Terms and Conditions

All terms and conditions presented here come into effect with any MarketForce Team projects company (MFTP).

Our Terms and Conditions are meant for

A. Market research and consultancy services carried out on demand

B. Trainings, seminars, and workshop events

C. Purchasing our publications (market and trend surveys)

A. Terms and Conditions for Market Research and Consultancy Services

§ 1 Scope and Scope of Services

1.1 These Terms & Conditions of Business (GTCB) govern the entire business relationship with our customers. They apply only where the customer is a merchant (§ 14 German Civil Code – BGB), a legal entity under public law or a special asset under public law. Our GTCB apply exclusively.

Differing, conflicting or additional GTCB of the customer shall not apply unless explicitly acknowledged in writing as an element of contract in the case in point. That shall apply even if we render a service unconditionally in knowledge of the customers GTCB.

Individual agreements made with the customer in individual cases shall in any event take precedence over these GTCB.

With any amendment of the GTCB, the version in force upon conclusion of the contract concerned shall apply.

These Conditions in the English version are applicable if the contract was concluded or negotiated completely or predominantly in English. In all other cases the German Version shall prevail.

1.2 Scope of the Service include all research and consultancy activity as described in the contract agreed with the customer, however not achieving a specific result. MFTP may draw back to any expert persons in order to fulfill a contract.

1.3 Upon customer´s request, MFTP will provide information upon the current state of order fulfillment and about execution details, in particular proceedings and work results. There is no obligation to provide extensive written reports, in particular when meant for third parties, unless particularly and explicitly agreed.

1.4 Terms and conditions of customers only come into effect when explicitly agreed and included in the contract.

§ 2 Cooperation

2.1 Our offers and all information on projects and services are always without obligation unless stated by us or identifiable as binding. The sending of a pre-signed contract shall be deemed a binding offer. To the extent no binding period is indicated, we regard ourselves as bound to any binding offer for one month.

2.2 For appropriate coordination of any cooperation (project) required to fulfil the assignment, the customer on the one hand, and we on the other hand, shall appoint at least one firm contact person for the project. The legally relevant communication takes place solely between those contact persons and must be adequately documented. This shall not detract from the possibility to agree technical and organisational details at a clerical level.

To the extent fulfilment of the assignment requires assistance by the customer, this must take place in the form necessary and on a timely basis. A schedule should be drawn up for assistance and fulfilment of the assignment.

The customer has to provide all information, documents, and data needed for project work. Information, documents, data provided by the customer or third parties will be plausibility-checked by MFTP, however MFTP cannot guarantee for validity of these items.

2.3 If assistance is not provided or provided too late or poorly, or where an addendum or amendment of the service is ordered, the schedule for the project shall be extended without separate agreement by the time necessary,including the reorganization, using reasonable resources. The additional time and the new schedule shall be notified to the customer without undue delay. As long as the customer does not object to the notification forthwith, as a rule within one week, it shall be assumed that the extension determined in the notification represents the objective delay to the project. We may demand the agreed remuneration, and where nothing in particular has been agreed, reasonable remuneration for significant additional expense through the change of the service or additional expense incurred through poor or late assistance or assistance not provided.

If any assistance necessary is not provided or provided too late or poorly, or the manner in which the assignment is fulfilled is contrary to the customer’s expectations, or other difficulties arise, this shall be notified forthwith to the contact person of the other party. If the problem has nonetheless not been resolved within a reasonable notice period, as a rule one week, after that notification, that shall be reported to the senior management of the other party. The management teams shall have one week’s time to solve the problem.

Any rescission or other dissolution of contract or other legal measures shall be permitted only after these notifications and expiry of the notice periods mentioned except where delay would entail a risk. The statutory conditions for legal measures, in particular the requirement to set notice pursuant to § 281 BGB, shall remain unaffected.

2.4 Except where agreed otherwise, title to the material produced when carrying out the assignment – data media of all kinds, questionnaires, other written documents etc. – and the data produced, shall remain with us. To the extent title is intended to transfer to the customer, that shall take place only after satisfaction of all our claims under the contract relationship concerned. To the extent these documents relate to investigations for the purpose of scientific market and social research, the anonymity of the respondents or test persons may not be put at risk by any such agreement.

2.5 Rights of use under copyright law to the output and materials provided shall pass to the customer only to the extent necessary to achieve the purpose of contract; the right to publication remains reserved unless explicitly agreed otherwise in the contract concerned or essential to its purpose.

Without our prior permission, the output and materials in total, excerpts or parts may not be forwarded, duplicated, printed or stored in documentation and information systems of any kind, processed or disseminated for purposes of advertising, as information for customers of our customer or for press publications. To the extent the results are provided to the customer in the form of a database, these provisions shall not apply as long as it concerns merely insignificant parts of that database.

Except where explicitly agreed otherwise, we undertake to retain documents for a period of one year and data media for a period of two years after completion of the assignment.

§ 3 Confidentiality

3.1 Both parties undertake to treat all information identified or apparent as confidential and exchanged on both sides within the context of the assignment as strictly confidential and to use it only for the purposes of the assignment. Employees shall be obliged accordingly.

This obligation applies even beyond the end of the assignment. This shall not apply to such information for which the other party can demonstrate that it was known to it before being received or was in the public domain before being received or came into the public domain after being received without the receiving party having been responsible therefor.

3.2 Information for which a legal or official duty of disclosure exists shall be excepted from this provision.

§ 4 Use of research results and Intellectual Property

4.1 With our services we support the customer in its business decisions. We assume, however, neither the responsibility for the decision nor the business risk ensuing. To the extent the results of our service form the direct basis of a business decision that may entail a loss exceeding the liability defined in section A or any individually agreed liability limits, it is a matter for the customer to inform us of and quantify those risks. It may be possible to cover those risks through a special insurance policy.

4.2 The results of our services (e.g. reports, organisation charts, drawings, calculations and calculation schemes and systems), are available to the customer for internal use only unless we have consented to them being forwarded in full or in part to certain third parties or to their publication for defined editorial purposes or for defined advertising purposes. Forwarding may be made contingent upon other requirements being met.

Without our prior permission, the results may not be forwarded, duplicated, printed or stored in documentation and information systems of any kind, processed or disseminated for purposes of advertising, as information for customers of our customer or for press publications. To the extent the results are provided to the customer in the form of a database, these provisions shall not apply as long as it concerns merely insignificant parts of that database.

All copyrights and intellectual property rights of the MFTP reserved.

Competitive comparison publications naming our company or using our logo are permitted only with our explicit prior permission and after we have released the specific text to be published.

To the extent statements or individual passages of any research, analysis, expert opinion etc. carried out by us are intended to be used for advertising purposes, the relevant texts, text elements, data, tables, graphics and/or illustrations must be agreed with us beforehand.

Subject to paramount statutory / administrative regulations or court decisions, use of results developed and/or determined by us ahead of procedures of a legal form (e.g. court procedures, arbitration procedures, official procedures) without our prior written consent is forbidden.

If the customer intends to quote, in full or in part, from analysis or research reports or other documents prepared by us within the context of the assignment, those quotes must be identified as such and name us thereby as the author of the research report. To that extent, the generally accepted rules of scientific work and the provisions of copyright law shall be applied.

The customer indemnifies us for all claims asserted against us because the customer has used the results obtained in an orderly fashion deliberately or negligently in an unlawful or misleading manner, especially through unlawful and/or misleading advertising.

§ 5 Payment Terms

5.1 If the service is rendered against invoice, the invoice amount is due for payment immediately without deduction of cash discount. Invoice amounts are stated exclusive of value-added tax. The customer shall be deemed in arrears if it does not remit payment within 14 days of the due date and receipt of the invoice. Payment shall take place without offsetting or deduction of taxes of any kind.

A payment is deemed made only when we can finally dispose of the amount, i.e. with bank transfer when credited to our account or with payment by cheque upon clearance of the cheque by the customer’s bank.

Bills of exchange or cheques will only be accepted by special agreement and only by way of fulfilment and shall be deemed payment only when cleared, Discount and direct debit fees are for the account of the ordering party. These are due immediately.

5.2 Any offsetting against our claim shall be precluded unless the customer’s counterclaim is undisputed or legally enforceable, or based upon a claim arising from a non-cash claim entitling us to deny service or based upon claims to damages from the reciprocal relationship.

Any right of the customer to withhold shall be precluded unless the customer’s counterclaim stems from the same contractual relationship.

5.3 In case of late payments, MFTP may surcharge an interest at a rate of 3 % above current officil European Central Bank discount rate. All rights to claim further damage and compensation reserved.

5.4 For invoices concerning international services or deliveries which may be exclusive of VAT, if the VAT-ID of the comercial customer is provided in the invoice, the customer is obliged to notice MFTP of his VAT-ID at the closing of the contract or prior to the invoicing, at the latest three days after notice that the VAT-ID is missing. Does the customer not provide his VAT-ID, MFTP may invoice without regard of the VAT-ID even if this leads to VAT taxation of the invoiced consieration, and may in this case add the VAT to the invoiced amount. If the customer delivers his VAT-ID late, MFTP shall correct the invoice, if legally possible. If the VAT is already paid, the customer shall be liable to the payment of the VAT until the tax is reimbursed to MFTP by the tax autorities. The customer shall be liable to any additional efforts caused by the delay. MFTP shall be entitled to claim appropriate charges for the efforts.

§ 6 Warranty

6.1 With regard to research and consultancy services, MFTP warrants for the works contracted as far as deficiencies occur by fault of our own. In this case we reserve the right to first improve them within a reasonable period through subsequent delivery.

6.2 If such improvement is not possible, or not within a reasonable period, the customer remains entitled to reduce the price or rescind the contract. For further compensation we refer to § 7.

6.3 It is the duty of the customer to immediately claim deficiencies and demand for improvements in a written manner. Warranty claims are subject to a limitation period of 6 months after the project was finalised.

§ 7 Liability

7.1 We shall be liable towards the customer for statutory or contractual liability situations in the event of malicious intent and gross negligence.
7.2 In cases of normal negligence, we shall be liable only for losses ensuing from breach of material contractual duties (duties of which their fulfilment makes proper execution of contract possible in the first place and adherence to which the contract party is entitled to expect). In that case, our liability shall be for reimbursement of the foreseeable losses typically occurring in such cases. The amount of compensation thereby is limited to the total amount of the net fee agreed for the individual order concerned. The liability limitations set out above shall also apply to the personal liability of our employees, representatives and boards. We provide no guarantee that the contractual output can be commercially analysed by the customer in a particular manner.

§ 8 Force Majeure

8.1 In case of circumstances and events beyond our control (“force majeure”) that have severe impact on our services or making them impossible for a limited time period, both parties may postpone the project according to the event. Such circumstances and events comprise business interruptions arising through no fault of our own, failure of our suppliers to deliver despite sufficient care or sudden strikes, or any unpredictable, severe circumstances beyond our control.

8.2. Should the delivery/service be delayed through force majeure for more than 12 weeks, the customer may withdraw from contract. This period shall be shortened accordingly when the customer cannot reasonably be expected to wait for particular reasons.

§ 9 Choice of law, place of jurisdiction, other provisions

9.1 The contractual relationship is subject to German law. Application of UN purchasing law (CISG) shall be precluded.

9.2 Changes and amendments to these Terms and Conditions or to a contract require written form and need to be identifiable as such.

9.3 In case single provisions of these Terms and Conditions or of a contract invalid, all other provisions shall not be affected.

9.4 Exclusive – also international – place of jurisdiction for all disputes arising directly or indirectly from the contractual relationship is the competent court is the legal seat of the contracting MFT service company, as long as the customer is a merchant as defined by the German Commercial Code (HGB), or
is a legal entity under public law or a special asset under public law, or
has no general place of jurisdiction in Germany.

We remain entitled at any time to also file suit at the customer’s general place of jurisdiction.

B. Terms and Conditions for Seminar Events

§ 1 General Terms and Conditions

With your registration for our event you declare your agreement with our terms and conditions as presented in the following. Any deviation or change requires written form.

§ 2 Confirmation of Registration

Please check your confirmation of your registration, namely the event and participant name, upon receiving it. Notification on corrections or amendments are due immediately. Participants have to bring their confirmation to the event as an ultimate proof of registration.

§ 3 Evening, Training and Seminar Events

3.1 For Evening, Training and Seminar Events, registration fee needs to be trasferred without any deduction into our bank account 8 days after the invoice date latest. Partial payment of fees will not be accepted.

3.2 Deviations require written confirmation by MFTP
In case an event needs to be cancelled within short terms for unforeseen circumstances, participamts will be notified immediately. In this case MFTP is only requested to reimburse the registration fees where already paid. In any case, MFTP´s liability is restricted to the registration fee.

3.3 In exceptional cases, MFTP reserves the right to exchange speakers and lecturers.

3.4 Withdrawal require written form and need to be sent 14 days latest prior to the starting date of the seminar. In this case an adminstration fee of € 50,00 incl. VAT will be charged. In case of withdrawals sent later or absence of participants without notification the complete registration fee is due. Incoming post date stamp or e-mail or fax time stamp at MFTP is relevant for the points of time mentioned.

§ 4 Travel to the Event Venue

Participants will be informed about addresses and travel and parking opportunities to our event venues.

§ 5 Right of Withdrawal / Withdrawal instruction (for Consumers)

5.1 Right of Withdrawal
Consumers have the right to withdraw this contract within 14 days without mentioning a reason. The deadline is 14 days from the point of time of receiving the confirmation. For expressing our withdrawal consumers have to inform us at MarketForce Team, Postfach 400418, 40244 Düsseldorf, e-Mail: anmeldung@MaFo-Team.com about your decision to withdraw our contract via an unambiguos message, such as a postal letter or sending an e-mail.
In orderto keep the deadline it is sufficient to send this message before the deadline.

5.2 Consequences of the Withdrawal
In case you have withdrawn this contract, we have to transfer all your payments immediately and within 14 days latest from the day we have received your information on withdrawal. For this repayment we will use wire transfer. In no case we will charge fees for this. In case you have demanded for our services carried out during this period of time between withdrawal and deadline you will be charged a service fee adequate to services received.

C. Terms and Conditions for the Purchase of Publications (Market and Trend Surveys)

§ 1 Subject of this section

The provisions of this section apply to purchases made through our webshop.

§ 2 Ordering process in the webshop and technical steps to conclude the contract

The customer can choose from a range of market and trend surveys. After the selection is made, the customer can fill the order form. He furthermore finds supplementory survey items and may mark further desired items by further mouse clicks.

The customer can partially change the order by changing the number of items, including the option “0” (zero). The customer can correct input errors by clicking the “one-page-back” button in the customer’s browser and make the desired entries from the relevant point of the order process.

After having selected the survey items the customer can initiate the purchase order. Further remarks or desires may be stated in another data field.
A simple calculation task ensures the website visitor is no bot but a human.

The next mouse click “Order” finalises the purchase process. Through this mouse click, the customer confirms his agreeing on Terms and Conditions and closes the a binding contract.

After this, MFTP receives an order message.

After the order is placed the customer will also receive an email confirming he has sent an order. This confirmation email also includes the request to transfer the amount into MFTP´s bank account.

We do not store the contract text for the customer. It cannot be retrieved after completing the order process.

German and English languages are available for use of the webshop and contract conclusions.

§ 3 Availability of goods, delivery and assumption of risk

Should the customer’s choice of product not be available at the time an order is placed, the customer will be notified of this in the order confirmation. If the product is permanently unavailable, the customer will not receive a declaration of acceptance from us. The contract is not concluded in this case.

If the product ordered by the customer is not available for a period of more than two weeks, the customer has the right to withdraw from the contract. In this case we also have the right to withdraw from the contract. Any payments that have already been made will be refunded immediately.

The risk of accidental loss and accidental deterioration of the product shall pass to the customer upon transfer of the consignment to the transport company.

Partial deliveries are permitted. To that extent, the contract shall be deemed partially fulfilled except where the customer cannot reasonably be expected to accept a partial delivery.

Delivery dates are stated subject to circumstances and events beyond our control (“force majeure”) including business interruptions arising through no fault of our own, failure of our suppliers to deliver despite sufficient care or sudden strikes. Should the delivery/service be delayed through force majeure for more than 12 weeks, the customer may withdraw from contract. This period shall be shortened accordingly when the customer cannot reasonably be expected to wait for particular reasons.

§ 4 Price, maturity, retention of title, terms of payment

Deliveries are free of charge.

We request advance payment. The purchase price payment is due immediately upon conclusion of the contract without deduction of discount. For retention of title and rights reserved the provisions in Section A of these General Terms and Conditions apply.

If payment of the purchase price is not received within 14 days of the due date, the contract is deemed to be cancelled.

§ 5 Warranty

With regard to warranty we refer to the provisions of section A § 6.

§ 6 Disputes regarding Intellectual Property
The customer is obligated to inform us immediately if the customer is confronted by third parties claiming that our product violates copyrights or other industrial property rights.